The Power of Three
by Gilaureloth
Summary: 5 years after the wizard competition a new threat arises. Intended multi-chapter.
1. An Interrupted Proposal

"Supposedly there's something romantic about being on top of the Eiffel tower at a full moon," Alex Russo said into the wand phone balanced between her ear and shoulder. "Personally, I don't see it." She held up a gray sweater with silver sequins and posed at the mirror before throwing it onto the pile of rejects on the bed.

"Of course you don't, sweetie, but you don't have a romantic bone in your body. It takes too much effort, and you love being lazy," her best friend Harper replied, "Hold on a sec, would you? Zeke!" she shouted loudly, "Where's that ice cream?" Harper was four months pregnant and milking it for all it was worth.

"Harper!" Alex complained, "you know that's not true! Besides, it's not the Eiffel Tower I objecct to, it's the full moon! He'll be all hairy and you know I hate kissing when he's like that!" Alex's boyfriend Mason was a werewolf. He'd learned to control it so he still retained a mostly human form, but for 3 days a month he still looked like he needed to shave every five minutes.

"Oh Alex, just go and put up with it. God knows he puts up with enough from you," Harper said. There was a knock at Alex's door and she jumped.

"Harper, he's here! And I'm not even dressed yet!" Alex hissed.

"Use your wand silly. And have fun tonight! But not too much fun! I don't want to have to break you out of wizard jail," Harper admonished.

"I will," Alex said before hanging up. She swirled her wand around her body and a slinky sheath dress in a light peach appeared. Waving her wand to make the pile of clothes disappear, she walked over to the door and pulled it open.

"Hi," she said a little breathlessly. The change clearly hadn't taken over yet, because the boy, well, man staring back at her was clean shaven and looked fantastic in a fitted gray suit.

"Hi," he said back. His British accent gave Alex the shivers, no matter how much she was around him. He pulled a bunch of bright orange orchids out from behind his back.

"These are for you," he said, presenting them to her with a flourish.

"Aw, Mason, thank you!" she took them and flicked her wand, sending them to a vase already sitting on the table. He often brought her flowers, so she liked to be prepared to get them out of the way. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hello.

"Ready to go?" she asked after a few moments.

"Ready if you are," he said grinning. She circled her wand around their heads and they flashed out.

Seconds later they appeared on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. It was nearing midnight in Paris, and the Tower was closed for the night, but somehow Mason had bribed someone to leave a table with candles, and a fancy dinner sitting out for them.

"Wow," Alex said, more for his benefit than anything else. It would have been easy for her to set this all up with magic, but he had wanted to surprise her and had refused her help. He escorted her to a chair and held it out for her as she sat down. The full moon had already worked the change on him, but in the candlelight she could pretend it was just the shadows that made his face so dark. They sat quietly for a few moments. It seemed like they had so little to talk about anymore. Since Alex had gotten her full wizard powers she spent most of her time like Uncle Kelbo had, trying to come up with crazier and crazier stunts to pull.

"So," Alex said almost too brightly after the silence had stretched uncomfortably long, "What's the occasion? This is… special." Mason smiled and stood. He dug in his pocket while coming around to kneel at her feet.

"Ohhhh no," Alex said quietly. Mason had been trying to propose for months now. Every time she said no, she wasn't ready, his crestfallen face almost made her regret the decision. But there was so much left for her to do, and she didn't want to be tied down yet.

"Alex," Mason started, a silly grin on his face. Honestly, Alex didn't know how she'd manage to keep a straight face through six of these proposals (admittedly, in two of the others she'd not been able to help herself and burst out laughing before he'd even gotten two words out). "Ever since I met you I…" he continued, but Alex never found out just what he wanted to say, because Justin flashed in and waved frantically at her.

"Oh thank God," she said quietly. She really didn't want to sit through another proposal only to have to turn him down again.

"Can you hold that thought for a few minutes?" she asked Mason, her eyes on Justin the whole time. "Or maybe a few years," she added under her breath. She didn't even wait for a response, although she did check his expression briefly, and it was giving a whole new meaning to the expression "puppy-dog eyes." Sighing, she grabbed her glass of champagne and made a mental note to have the conversation about waiting to get married once she'd found out what Justin wanted. Or rather, have the conversation again.

"What's up?" she asked as she approached.

"Am I interrupting something?" Justin asked, gesturing at Mason and the candlelit table behind her.

"Oh that!" Alex snorted, "It's nothing. Mason's just trying to propose again. Thank God you interrupted or I'd've had to say no. Again." She pulled a face at the thought and buried her nose in her champagne flute.

"Alex!" Justin admonished, "How long are you going to keep stringing him along? A guy can only stand to hear 'no' so many times!"

"Really? You came all the way here to interrupt my date, dressed like…" Alex surveyed his wizard robes, which were only slightly less frumpy than when Professor Crumbs had worn them, "_that_ to give me advice on my love life?"

"What? No!" Justin protested, "I just- I need you to come home." He sounded sincere, which was the weirdest part.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Professor Crumbs died."


	2. Life at the Sub Shop

Max surveyed the sub shop. It had been a fairly busy day, and there were used napkins and dirty trays scattered all over the tables. His eyes traveled across the shop to the door, where his girlfriend Emily was saying goodbye to the last few customers. He owed just about everything to her. She was the one who kept him going after Dad died, making sure he kept the sub shop running. She would never know it, but more was resting on that sub shop than even he told her - without it, the family would lose the wizard lair, and until Justin or Alex settled down and had kids, they wouldn't be able to apply for a permit to move it somewhere else.

"Bye" Emily said, waving to the last few customers before flipping the lock to closed and switching off the neon "OPEN" sign. She turned and smiled at him, and he automatically held his arms open for her.

"We did good today," she said into his chest. He laughed.

"_You_ did good today. I just made sure nobody left before they had a chance to eat your delicious sandwiches," he said, smiling down at the top of her head. They had hired her the week after Dad died to help out in the kitchen, and by the end of the week she'd proved herself so good at it that Max and his mom, Theresa, let her do whatever she wanted in the kitchen while they waited tables. It had been a year now and they'd been dating for at least half that. The store was doing so well that Max had a little extra money he'd saved up, and he was considering buying an engagement ring with it. The only thing stopping him was the magic - she didn't know yet, and while he hoped she'd never find out, he wanted to be sure there wouldn't be any surprises. Since Alex and Justin hadn't ever been home in that time, he hadn't had a chance to explain, much less tell them about her, and he wasn't going to propose until he had a solemn promise from everyone that she would never find out.

"I'm gonna do the dishes, honey," she said, pushing him away, "Can you sweep the floor?"

"Sure," he said. He could feel the silly grin on his face, but he just couldn't help it. And most of the time, he didn't mind. He walked over to the corner and grabbed the broom.

"Whew," Alex said from behind him, "Told you they'd be closed!" Max jumped and dropped the broom. He stood up straight to find her and Justin standing just inside the door. Justin was wearing his WizTech robes. Somehow they didn't feel right without a long white beard flowing down the front. Alex was no better, wearing a slinky, shiny peach thing with a crystal champagne flute in one hand.

"What-?" Max started.

"I could have sworn I locked that! We're closed guys," Emily said coming out of the kitchen. She paused a moment, taking in the unusual costumes. "And honestly, I don't think we're what you're looking for. The shelter down the street will let you sober up in peace."

"No!" Max interrupted, sure that if he didn't start talking one of them would make him some major trouble. "It's ok, Emily. This is my brother, Justin, and my sister Alex."

"Ah, Emily, I've heard all about you," Justin said, going with it. He held out his hand to shake. "Professor-"

"DUMBLEDORE!" Max interrupted. "He's playing Professor Dumbledore, very good Justin, probably your best costume yet!"

"What?" Justin said looking extremely confused.

"See, my siblings, they - um - they like to go to costume balls. See? Alex is a Bond girl and Justin is that guy from Harry Potter, you know Professor Dumbledore? I never got into that much, but they were always doing it when we were kids," Max explained. He widened his eyes, hoping that would be enough to get his message across. Instead everyone just looked at him like that was the craziest thing he'd ever said.

"Yeah, whatever Max," Alex said breaking the tension. "Look we just need to talk to you in the W-" She broke off, finally noticing Max waving frantically at her to stop talking, "-wVegetable Cooler." It was an awkward save and everyone could tell.

"The vegetable cooler?" Emily asked, "Why would you need to talk to him there? All that's in there is the vegetables and your dad's mushroom colonization. Max still won't let me throw it away for 'sentimental reasons'" she said, rolling her eyes in Alex's direction. Alex smiled and nodded, playing along.

"It's just a code," Max said, ad-libbing madly. "It's what we used to call family meetings. Why don't you go up and see if Mom needs help with supper, Emily. I'll take care of this and be up as soon as I can." There were a few moments of silence. It was pretty obvious Emily wanted to know more, but also didn't want more of the craziness.

"Okay," she said finally. "But this is _not_ the last you're hearing of this!" she hissed at him. "Nice meeting you," she smiled at Alex and Justin before running up the spiral staircase in the corner. Everyone just stared after her for a few moments to be sure she's gone.

"What the hell?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, I smell some extreme fibbing, which is usually my sport. Start talking!" Alex added.

"Who was that?" Justin continued.

"And why didn't she know us?" Alex asked. Max held up his hands in surrender.

"That is my girlfriend, Emily. And she doesn't know about you because… she doesn't know anything about the whole…" he dropped his voice to a whisper, "wizard thing."

"Oh!" said Alex, "Is that all? Don't worry, I can fix that, I'll just flash up there and explain things to her. For a second there I was worried you were embarrassed about us or something." She lifted her wand to flash out, but Max grabbed it from her hand before she could complete the spell.

"NO!" Max shouted, "She doesn't know about magic because I don't want her to. We're fine without it, and it's never going to affect us. Stay out of it."

"You know he has a point," Justin said, "It won't be like Dad. Uncle Kelbo never had a chance of finding someone to have children with, but you and I both have, Alex. The likelihood is good that we'll both have magical children, and he won't. Plus, if this is just a temporary girlfriend, it's easier to just not tell her."

"Oh it's not temporary," Max argued, "I'm thinking I'm gonna propose soon."

"Oh God, not you too!" Alex exclaimed.

"Look, we have bigger problems here guys. Max, can we use the Lair? I don't want to be overheard," Justin interrupted.

"Neither do I," Max agreed, "Sure. But you'll have to open it. It doesn't work for me anymore."

"You've lost the lair?" Alex asked, sympathy in her voice, "Oh you poor thing!"

"Alex!" Justin said.

"Oh. Right. Let's go," she said, flashing them out.


End file.
